2 Mar 2015

VAS Africa speaker William Thubakgale, COO of QPlay on the future of digital services in Africa

We talk to VAS Africa speaker
William Thubakgale, COO of QPlay, ahead of the event to hear his
thoughts on the future of digital services in Africa.

William will be speaking at VAS Africa this coming 30 June – 1 July
2015 at the Sandton Maslow, Johannesburg, South Africa. For more
information, view the agenda.

VAS Africa: What is the future of digital services in Africa
and what do you think are the top 3 major trends affecting your
business in the region?

William Thubakgale: Digitally the future of Africa is looking great
seeing a lot of start-ups looking for issues within Africa and from
those deriving solutions for Africans. We do have constraints though
which include data costs, red tapes and digital piracy.

VAS: Are new online distribution channels providing an
opportunity to expand the reach of African artists to international
audiences?

WT: Yes, these distribution channels allow international markets to
be exposed to African products and services. With this digital phase we
have seen how we are living in a global village making it easy and
faster to transact with anyone, anywhere.

VAS: Do you feel that mobile is definitely the future of content distribution, not just music but all forms of content ?

WT: Mobile is the future. From what we have seen – a customer first
looks up what they are looking to purchase on mobile, researches on
tablet and completes a purchase on desktop. If mobile is the first touch
point for any conversion then it is definitely the future for content
distribution.

VAS: Are there infrastructure concerns and issues
surrounding internet speeds and data costs that are hampering the growth
of online music in Africa ?

WT: Actually that’s the main constrain we are facing as a continent.
As much as we may want consumers to consume music we have to provide,
the cost must be reduced to allow users to openly consume music.

VAS: Any particular current or recent projects/success stories that you want to share?

WT: With the massive growth in ecommerce in Africa; I have also
become involved in a venture that allows men to purchase Premium Mens
Wear – Posh Patterns(www.poshpatterns.co.za) The immense growth has
allowed the brand to grow beyond expectation by exporting to 3 countries
just after 5 month of release.

VAS: How are smartphones/tablets & cloud services impacting mobile/internet service providers in South Africa?

WT: Consumption is almost immediate; With smartphones always being at
hand consumers find it easy to retrieve and use data at any moment.
Thus content is king in this space.

West Africa Com

East Africa Com

Nigeria Com

Africa Com

Welcome

Welcome to the Com World Series Blog. As producers of the leading telecoms, media and ICT events for developing markets, we focus on news & views that affect everyone operating in the telecoms ecosystem in Africa, the Middle East and Eurasia.